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Monday, August 25, 2014

Let's Play a Game: Underdark Wars

Imagine for the moment that you're sitting by the little pool in back of your tower in the Dale. Your beard is getting scraggly and your pipe seems to be tasting bitterly lately. Probably too many years in use, you muse as the naked Drow woman amuses herself in the pool and teases you for not being able to counter her moves in the game of chess she's been playing with you. Only there are no chess pieces and if she wins than your world, the entirety of the surface kingdoms, are hers for all time.

You start to say something clever like, For a woman who's talking about killing me you sure are trying to make it as pleasant as possible, but then you toss that aside for fear of coming off too much like the old lecher you are. Then you see the flash hit Waterdeep and mushroom cloud blossoms overhead. Both of you drop your glasses and you hear her scream as a missile the size of your tower strikes the ground next to you.

I've just launched the first trans-dimensional nuclear attack on the Forgotten Realms. I've hit every major city in the Realms (population over 100,000) plus a number of key targets of strategic importance (like Elminster's home). The Sword Coast is a nuclear wasteland.

Due to my strategic missile strikes any above ground npc of 10th level or higher has had his home area struck. I have sent a messenger to every remaining surface kingdom in the Realms, "Surrender and live. Resist and we will annihilate you entirely from the planet."

The surface realms are no longer a threat to the power of the Underdark. Now is the time to consolidate your empires and prepare to rule all of the Forgotten Realms!

The rules:

1. Pick one of the following Underdark kingdoms to control:

Drow

Svirfneblin

Mind Flayer

Beholder

Duergar

2. If multiple people choose a single kingdom then each person represents a power group withing that kingdom and will have to either form a coalition with other groups or eliminate them to dictate the actions for the entire kingdom

3. After all participants have joined each kingdom will have its numbers divided equally among all members of that group. These sub-groups will have all identifing characteristics noted at the time they are divided (thus you'll know how many wizards, fighting-men, and the like you have at your disposal), as well as your starting treasury.

3. Wage war against other Underdark kingdoms to conquer the realms below so that you will then control the surface realms.

4. Turns
- Each player has one turn per round.

- Each group will act in alphabetical order (thus all Beholder players act, then all Drow, and so on), and players will act in alphabetical order by username (thus Dither would go before Shadowplay, the) within their group.
- On your turn you may choose to either occupy an unoccupied area, reinforce an occupied area (through increased men, or building defenses), hire mercenaries, negotiate with another player, or attempt to conquer another player's occupied area.

- If you choose to hire mercenaries then you may hire them through one of three methods. (1) You can negotiate a rate with another player to hire a number that must be paid at the start of your turn - be mindful though, the person you hire these mercenaries from still controls them. (2.) You can hire a monstrous character from me for a rate that will be determined based on the type of creature you wish to hire and the quantity. (3.) An ally can choose to lend you a number of troops to help in your quest to conquer the Underdark; however, these troops remain under their command and will act according to their owner's direction at all times.

- Combat is resolved in a non-randomized method by adding the following factors to see which side has the greatest total.

Factor | Points Awarded

Fighting Men | 1 points per unit

Wizards | 3 points per unit

Cleric | 5 points per unit

Monstrous Unit | 7 points per unit

Reinforced Walls | 10 points

Traps | 10 points per trap / max 4 traps

Mercenaries (Def) | - 8 points per unit

Mercenaries (Att) | + 8 points per unit

- A losing force is utterly destroyed as are all traps and reinforced walls.
- If combat results in a tie both sides lose half their fighting force. If any traps are present the defending force loses half the original number (unless the orignial number is 1 in which case all traps are lost).
- At any time you may choose to withdraw from the game by either dividing your forces equally within your group, seeding your entire force to another player (regardless of their kingdom, though if you seed to another kingdom your forces will be treated as mercenaries from that point on under my control), or by refusing to act on your turn for 24 hours (real time).

5. The round ends when all participants have acted

6. Actions may be taken on either Google+ or on Blogger, but at the end of each round the entirety will be written up on this blog so that all participants can see the resolutions of their actions. [[ I should note that while it's not required to play if you have a Google+ account it would greatly facilitate play as I can get your attention directly and keep you from losing your turn and being pulled from the game accidentally ]]

7. Participants will be allowed to join until 7:00 AM EST Thrusday, August 28, 2014 at which point the game will be closed.

8. Any Kingdom without representation will be divided equally among all the remaining players.

9. The Map for the game, along with everyone's starting location will be posted on Thursday morning at 10:00 AM EST. The game will officially start at at 11:00 AM EST.

Who That Talking Over Here?

I'm a blogger that talks about all my favorite hobbies - from video games, to comics, to rpgs, to poker, and everything in between. I can also throw more words on the page than a room full of crack smoking monkeys being guarded by trigger happy robots. And unlike those banana munching, tree swingers I actually make sense most of the time!